Review of Wong on Dice

Title:
Wong on Dice
Author:
Stanford Wong
Publisher:
Pi Yee Press
Date:
2005
ISBN:
0-935926-26-7
Pages:
192
Price:
$29.95

Reviewed by Nick Christenson, npc@jetcafe.org

March 20, 2006

The topic of dice setting is still a very controversial one. Some very well respected names in the world of advantage gambling have weighed in passionately on both sides of the issue. With Wong on Dice, advantage gambling guru Stanford Wong weighs in with his opinion. He believes that gaining an advantage at the game of craps is entirely possible and practical. His book explains how he came to his position and how an aspiring "rhythmic roller" can learn to get the edge over the casinos.

Wong begins his book with some introductory remarks and then provides the rules to the game of craps. This is perfunctory, but justified, and Wong freely suggests that those who know how craps works shouldn't waste their time reading Chapter 2. Chapter 3 is an overview of what it's like to play craps in a casino. This will also be mostly review for anyone who has played the game before, although Wong provides a few trivial pieces of information that I didn't know.

Chapters 4, 5, and 6 cover the techniques of setting and throwing the dice in order to gain an advantage. Unlike other authors I've read on this topic, Wong has a background in the hard sciences. Consequently, he speaks with a precision and observational discipline that other authors lack. I appreciate the rigor that Wong brings to the subject, and I believe it makes his suggestions particularly worthy of consideration.

On the other hand, Wong typically includes less detail about practice regimens and in some cases technique than do other authors on this topic. Not being a dice setter myself, I honestly don't know if this is a good thing or not. It very well may be that stripping away all the extraneous stuff will help aspiring advantage dice players achieve a larger edge over the house at a faster pace. On the other hand perhaps the information on other techniques and suggestions regarding practice equipment and such that other authors discuss will be valuable to a large percentage of the students of this discipline. I don't know which is the case, but I believe that those who want to research this topic should be aware of both sides of this issue.

Chapters 7 and the final three discuss mathematics and wagering information. This is a place where Wong's skills make this book really shine. Other books on dice control often make incorrect suggestions on wagering, and it's good to have Wong weigh in on this topic. My only objection is that the author does not always "show his work". For example, he makes the claim that when setting to avoid sevens, the come bet is a good bet. In his book, Sharpshooter makes that claim that one shouldn't be making come bets when shooting to avoid sevens. Of course, Wong is correct, but by not stepping through the reasons why, a less mathematically inclined reader won't know which author they should believe.

Wong includes three chapters that discuss actual results, both successful and not, betting on these techniques in the casinos of Las Vegas and elsewhere. This is interesting and useful supplemental material. Advantage players always risk facing situations in a casino for which they have not practiced, so the more of these situations they can be exposed to before hand the better off they'll be. Additionally, these stories are often just plain entertaining.

I still don't have enough personal experience to say whether dice control works or not, but the fact that Stanford Wong thinks that it does is enough for me to at least take the notion seriously. I don't plan to go out and spend the considerable time and energy it would take to determine if I can gain an edge at casino craps, but if Wong offers to put up his money on another "Dice Challenge", such as the one discussed in Wong on Dice, I sure don't plan to bet against him.

If someone plans to go to all the effort of learning dice control, then I believe they will definitely want to read and study Wong's book. It is definitely the best information I've read on the math and physics of this practice. Because of my lack of experience on the subject I have no idea if Wong does the best job of covering the human mechanics of learning this skill or not, but it certainly might. If someone doesn't know anything about dice control and just wants to dip their toe in the subject, I think I'd probably recommend Sharpshooter's Get the Edge at Craps as a first book because it's a little gentler and quite a bit less expensive. However,I expect that everyone who is serious about the subject will benefit from reading this book.

Capsule:

I still don't know myself if dice control in a casino setting is really practical or not. However, Wong's support of this thesis is enough for me to seriously entertain the possibility that it is. Wong on Dice is a rigorous and well considered treatise on the topic. I expect that all serious dice controllers will want to read this book. It is comparatively costly and a bit terse at times, though, so folks who aren't sure they're serious might want to start with something a little more gentle and less expensive, such as Sharpshooter's Get the Edge at Craps. However, I expect Wong on Dice to be considered a truly authoritative work on this subject, and every serious dice control student should read this book.

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